(): father, dad, pa

() is a Chinese character meaning “father.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1049 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, father. Its radical form (father) appears in many related characters such as (, grandpa), (, father), (diē, dad).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. father
  2. dad
  3. pa

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticfather

Decomposition: ⿱父巴 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounbà ba(coll.) father1

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
ā bà(dialect) father
lǎo bàfather
bǎ bí(loanword) daddy
qīn bàone's own father
ā bà fùAbba (Aramaic word father)
bà mādad and mom
bǎo bàa dad (father of a young child)
nǎi bàstay-at-home dad
tù bàtoolbar (in computer software) (loanword)
10
Total compounds
30
As first character
60
As last character
10
As middle character

appears in 10 compound words: 30 as the first character, 60 as the last, and 10 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.5192,894 co-occurrences
0.4762,736 co-occurrences
nǎi
0.4392,460 co-occurrences
é
0.420396 co-occurrences
diē
0.401282 co-occurrences
0.395528 co-occurrences
lǎo
0.3926,696 co-occurrences
0.3777,410 co-occurrences
gēn
0.3672,682 co-occurrences
0.349498 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

教我骑自行车,虽然摔了几次,但我终于学会了。

Bàba jiāo wǒ qí zìxíngchē, suīrán shuāi le jǐ cì, dàn wǒ zhōngyú xuéhuì le.

Dad taught me to ride a bicycle. Although I fell a few times, I finally learned.

Hk01.comFeb 2026

4宝出轨小三24次!性爱行事历曝光 人妻试图...

4 bǎo bà chū guǐ xiǎo sān 2 4 cì ! xìng ài háng shì lì pù guāng rén qī shì tú . . .

4 Bao Dad cheated on the mistress 24 times! Sex calendar exposed Married woman trying...

TvbsFeb 2026

比特幣暴跌還買進!《富》作者曝2理由:將比黃金有價值

bǐ tè 幣 bào diē 還 買 進 ! fù bà bà zuò zhě pù lǐ yóu 將 bǐ 黃 jīn yǒu 價 zhí

Bitcoin Plummets, But Buyers Step In! 'Rich Dad' Author Reveals 2 Reasons: It Will Outperform Gold in Value

工商時報Feb 2026

比特幣還能買?《富.窮》作者逆風加碼 兩大進場原因曝...

bǐ tè 幣 還 néng 買 ? fù bà bà . 窮 bà bà zuò zhě nì 風 jiā 碼 兩 dà 進 場 yuán yīn pù . . .

Can you still buy Bitcoin? The author of "Rich Dad. The author of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" has increased his bets against the wind, and the two main reasons for his entry into the market have been exposed...

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

...1歲母親初二離世!陳思安忍3天痛揭噩耗:媽天上團聚了

. . . 歲 mǔ 親 chū èr 離 shì ! 陳 sī ān rěn tiān tòng jiē 噩 hào bà 媽 tiān shàng 團 jù le

... ...1 year old mother died on the second day of the month! Chen Si'an endured 3 days of pain to reveal the sad news: Mom and Dad are reunited in heaven.

百度新闻Feb 2026

河北男孩放寒假每天睡到中午12点,不许家人打扰..

hé běi nán hái fàng hán jiǎ měi tiān shuì dào zhōng wǔ diǎn , bà bà bù xǔ jiā rén dǎ rǎo . .

A boy in Hebei sleeps until noon every day during winter break, and his father forbids the family from disturbing him.

Tatoeba

很早回家吗?

Nǐ bàba hěn zǎo huíjiā ma?

Does your father get home early?

Tatoeba

什么时候回家?

Nǐ bàba shénmeshíhou huíjiā?

When did your father come home?

Tatoeba

能再说一遍你是谁吗?

Néng zàishuō yībiàn nǐ bà shì shéi ma?

Could you please tell me again who your father is?

Tatoeba

安娜,你明天这个时候在哪里?

ānnà, nǐ bàba míngtiān zhège shíhou zài nǎlǐ?

Anna, where will your father be at this time tomorrow?

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the father radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 爸 (bà) mean in Chinese?
爸 (bà) primarily means "father." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1049 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 爸 and 肥?
爸 (bà) and 肥 (féi) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 父 vs 月 (same 巴 component).
How many strokes does 爸 have?
爸 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 爸?
The radical associated with 爸 is 父 (father). This radical appears in many characters related to father.
What are the components of 爸?
爸 is composed of: 父 (semantic), 巴 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱父巴 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 爸?
Common words with 爸 include: 爸爸 (bà ba, "(coll.) father"); 阿爸 (ā bà, "(dialect) father"); 老爸 (lǎo bà, "father"); 爸比 (bǎ bí, "(loanword) daddy"); 亲爸 (qīn bà, "one's own father"). There are over 10 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 爸 (bà)?
Several characters share the pronunciation bà: 芭 (an unidentified fragrant plant mentioned in the Songs of Chu 楚辭|楚辞), 把 (to hold, measure word), 靶 (target), 吧 (suggestion particle), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 爸 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 爸 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.